This little girl sat on my lap for hours every day after school for the past 5 weeks.
She was always so eager to tell me how beautiful I was, but so qucik to deny it when I'd tell her that she was beautiful.
We'd talk about Jesus, but it was always:
I can't love Jesus.
You can't live in Thailand and love Jesus.
You can't love Thailand and love Jesus.
You just can't.
And every day, I'd always tell her how much Jesus loved her, regardless of whether or not she loved Him.
And today, she finally got it.
And I know she got it, because I felt His joy.
Today, she didn't just hear that Jesus loved her.
Today, for the first time, she believed it.
And that made all the difference.
And I'm just now learning…that doesn't work.
Our love for Him can only come from His love for us.
We need to love ourselves in order to truly love Him.
And we can only love ourselves if we let Him love us.
We can only love Jesus to the extent that we believe that we are loved by Him.
If we don't believe He really loves us, we really don't love Him at all.
If we can't accept His love, we don't really love Him.
Letting Him love us is how we love Him. That's how much He loves us.
As soon as Pim realized that Jesus loved her, regardless of her love for Him, she wanted to love Him.
She knew His love for her was bigger than the loves that were holding her back.
And she was amazed by that.
As Pim exclaimed:
I love Jesus!
I love Jesus and Thailand!
I love Jesus more than Thailand!
I felt God rejoice.
I felt the joy He feels when we realize how big His love is for us.
I felt the joy He feels when we make the choice to love Him.
And let me tell you, He is so jealous for our love.
There is nothing He wants more.
He is patient, but He is jealous.
He loves us more than we could ever understand,
and that is why He wants our love.
Not because He is selfish,
but because a loving Father wants what is best for His kids,
and He knows that His love is the best place for us to live.
So, the question He's asking is this:
Are you going to believe that I love you?
Are you going to let Me love you?
Just like Pim, we're going to have to ask a billion questions and need a billion clarifications.
We're still going to try to fight with Him when He tells us we're beautiful.
We're going to need to hear it over and over again. That's just how we are.
But that's okay. He doesn't mind.
He loves expressing His love to us. Over and over again, He loves it.
He loves it because that's how much He loves us.
abby…YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL! thanks for sharing, that video is just precious,and brought me to tears. you are doing amazing things. keep up the great work. you r loved!
Very meaningful Abby. I am very happy about YOUR love for Jesus too.
this is just beautiful. you are just beautiful.
love you and miss you, sweet girl.